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Software Apple TV Now Running Full-blown OSX
Chris Peredun - April 2, 2007 6:36 PM

9 comment(s) - last by Homerboy.. on Apr 3 at 12:57 PM

Image courtesy Engadget

Modified kernel forces Mac Mini to give up the "Smallest OSX Computer" title.

When the specifications for the Apple TV were released, the speculation about how long it would take for a full-fledged OS to be run on the system began almost immediately. However, anyone estimating a time frame of "less than two weeks" might have been labeled as anything from "overly optimistic" to "insane."

A devoted Apple hacker named "semthex" has apparently created a modified OSX kernel and released it to the public. The truly amazing news is that the modified kernel is being distributed under the terms of Apple's own Apple Public Source License, with source code to follow.

A video has already been made and uploaded to Google Video showcasing the (more) functional Apple TV running the Intel build of OSX 10.4.8, and forum users are reporting various degrees of success.

The Apple TV sports rather mediocre specifications when compared to even the Mac Mini, but as shown by other open-source projects such as Xbox Media Center, dedicated coders have a way of squeezing every last ounce of performance out of a given platform. With the diminutive size of the Apple TV and quiet operation, it could make a very welcome addition to several home entertainment centers.

No word yet on whether or not the Apple TV will run Boot Camp; but as shown by this hack, it's probably just a matter of time.

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too little too late

By evident on 4/2/2007 11:53:19 PM , Rating: 2

who cares? for the same price range, xbmc totally trumps this useless hardware

RE: too little too late

By Homerboy on 4/3/2007 12:57:28 PM , Rating: 2

ummm no does XBMC does HD at all?

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Linux, anyone?

By herrdoktor330 on 4/2/2007 9:29:22 PM , Rating: 1

So this must not be an april fools day joke. Needless to say I'm impressed with the ability to load an alternative OS onto this box.

Which leads me to my subject: Anyone working on loading Linux onto this machine? I think that this would be awesome for streaming media from a samba server and you could have the option of running any codecs that you prefer. A 1ghz processor and 256 of ram should be ample to run any stripped down distribution. How much would it take to retrofit the remote control driver to work under Linux? Or, since the thing has a USB adapter, why not hook up a Bluetooth adapter and use a Nintendo Wiimote to navigate through your OS and media? Why not run a MythTV front end on it? (Assuming you have a beefy MythTV backend to provide media for it) My main point of ignorance here is I don't understand how the boot loader decides what OS to start or if it can be hacked. I read the linked forums, but I need to digest the linked documentation.

Am I just a crazy dreamer? Or does this kind of application have legs?

RE: Linux, anyone?

By crystal clear on 4/3/2007 5:36:52 AM , Rating: 2

Meanwhile, a video of an earlier hack from the folks at AwkwardTV demonstrates an Apple TV booting from an external USB drive that has been attached to it. The hack is possible without busting into the Apple TV or removing the internal hard disk.

The AwkwardTV project is now looking to build a bootable image for USB drives based on the Open Source Darwin kernel that will allow mounting and editing the internal hard disk, paving the way for other hacks, such as enabling SSH, to be made without opening the Apple TV case

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2608

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Good to playaround with !

By crystal clear on 4/3/2007 5:30:15 AM , Rating: 2

"Modified kernel forces Mac Mini to give up the "Smallest OSX Computer" title."

Yes another toy to play around on weekends like the PS3-
Experimenting!!!

Yes I will buy it just for that !!!

But prefer emphasis on the following-

Inside Apple's Leopard Server OS

"Apple's new OS X Server 10.5, which will be showcased at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June."

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jh...

"Apple Unveils Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on the iTunes Store"

DRM-Free Songs from EMI Available on iTunes for $1.29 in May
CUPERTINO, California—April 2, 2007—Apple® today announced that EMI Music’s entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase DRM-free (without digital rights management) from the iTunes® Store (www.itunes.com) worldwide in May. DRM-free tracks from EMI will be offered at higher quality 256 kbps AAC encoding, resulting in audio quality indistinguishable from the original recording, for just $1.29 per song. In addition, iTunes customers will be able to easily upgrade their entire library of all previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions for just 30 cents a song. iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside DRM-free higher quality versions when available

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.h...

During a press conference on Monday, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced that iTunes will soon begin selling DRM-free music tracks from record label EMI and later fielded questions on the prospect of DRM-free videos, the affect of higher bit-rate tracks on future iPod capacities and more

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2624

RE: Good to playaround with !

By crystal clear on 4/3/2007 5:59:33 AM , Rating: 1

Sorry skipped my mind-yes also D.T. has an article on

"Apple Unveils Higher Quality DRM-Free Music on the iTunes Store

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Xbox media center

By electriple9 on 4/2/2007 10:45:30 PM , Rating: 2

I wish some sort of media center like the xbox will be made for appletv.
Thanks

wait

By sprockkets on 4/2/2007 11:28:08 PM , Rating: 2

The kernel may be open source, but what about the rest of OSX?

I would actually buy one if

By zsouthboy on 4/3/2007 11:32:01 AM , Rating: 2

I would purchase a mac - $300 is fine to blow on something I'm just going to play with, test websites in safari, etc.

Base price of a mac mini is too expensive for that.

The problem with this device is the lack of RAM, though. The processor isn't that bad, actually. if it had a gig, i'd recommend people (obviously after the hack is easy) get one vs. a low end dell, even.

"Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine." -- Bill Gates